Mixing

THE GREATEST

Billie Eilish

Jon Castelli, Aron Forbes

Song : THE GREATEST

Duration:1h18 Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese

Description

Dive deeper into the mixing of Billie Eilish’s spectacular third album. In this series, Jon Castelli and Aron Forbes break down their mix of her arena-pop anthem ‘THE GREATEST’, revealing the secrets behind its swirling soundscapes and distinctive vocal textures.

Beginning with Billie’s nuanced lead vocal, the two mixers analyze their approach to balance and signal processing. As they work through the mix, they demonstrate how they enhanced the various instruments with tasteful EQ, compression and saturation. They also explore their use of reverb as a tool to evoke emotion and add depth and excitement to the mix.

The series wraps with a thoughtful discussion on mindset, communication, and wellbeing. Castelli and Forbes further explore their collaborative mixing workflow, offering not just technical insight, but a holistic guide to mixing modern pop at the highest level.

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11 min

Part 1

Song overview, lead vocal, mix comparison, balance

bx_console SSL 4000G, UAD LA-2A Gray, UAD 1176 LN, UAD 1176 Rev A
12 min

Part 2

Artist perspective, revisions, guitars, dynamics, drums

bx_console SSL 4000G, Fabfilter Pro-L2, iZotope Ozone 11
10 min

Part 3

Drums, arrangement, layers, bass, guitars, synths, strings,

Wavesfactory Spectre, Fabfilter Saturn2
13 min

Part 4

Vocals, balance, adlibs, co-mixing
08 min

Part 5

Vocals, processing
iZotope Ozone 11 Vintage Tape
08 min

Part 6

Engineering, studio philosophies
Telefunken ELA M 251, Neve 1073, Tube-Tech CL 1B
11 min

Part 7

DAW selection, mindset, confidence
02 min

Trailer

Comments

(25)

Zach Shoup October 12, 2025 at 2:02 AM

Why are the vocals stereo?
Mario Krnic November 11, 2025 at 11:34 AM

Probably because they export them through stereo mix bus in Logic so they appear as a stereo file. The lead vocal for example is probably mono meaning L and R part of that stereo file are the same.
Riccardo Longi September 24, 2025 at 7:45 PM

guys that's beautiful. I really think it is but please, someone need to add a de-esser con Aron's sibilants. Please I have to turn down the volume every time he speaks. Anyway, great lesson.
Soumaya Douri Morisson September 14, 2025 at 9:26 AM

French translation please
Phil Rochefort August 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM

I loved this video. It's really cool to learn and understand the mindset and artistry of mixing, collaborating and listening beyond the tools. There is an important philosophy to our practice that most engineers don't share, probably because they weren't asked to. More of this please :)
Teemu Toropainen July 29, 2025 at 7:34 PM

Pro Tools and Logic and DAW:s in general null (there have been a lot of tests done regarding that) so I don't know what these guys are talking about when they say that the DAW:s sound different. I mean. is there any hard evidence of that?
E W August 1, 2025 at 8:09 AM

In the first video, i think they were talking about the fact that there was a logic-only compressor following a reverb directly on the drum bus. So when they import it into pro tools with all the individual drum tracks it is basically impossible to add that logc-only compressor back onto the drum bus? Also he is talking about how "logic clips itself" leading to glueing things together a little different. I think it makes sense because there are probably very subtle differences in the engines between the two daws in terms of how they handle clipping and transients and bussing and what not. So yeah, two DAWS will probably sound pretty spot on if its just wav files with no processing. but once you add proccessing and bussing, etc,, how things work under the hood will start to make things sound different?
Ben King July 28, 2025 at 8:13 PM

Disappointing that my previous comment that was critical of this episode (while also being supportive of these two gents) has been deleted.
MWTM Admin July 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM

This comment has been deleted.

MWTM Admin July 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM

This comment has been deleted.

MWTM Admin July 29, 2025 at 6:08 PM

Hi Ben, thank you for your comment. We did not delete any comment from the previous series of Jon Castelli and Aron Forbes. Also there was no coment you've added on that previous series. If there is anything else we can assist you with, let us know. Thank you!
Russell Tanner July 28, 2025 at 8:05 PM

Gotta go against the naysayers and say I really enjoyed this conversation. There's a lot of philosophy but a big takeaway is that there wasn't a lot of trickery needed here, so they kept the processing fairly simple. That's a hugely important takeaway in a world where I have students whose first question is how to do sidechain compression but they don't know how to EQ something. It's refreshing to see these two guys so excited about the work they've done.
Coty James July 14, 2025 at 6:11 AM

Unfortunately most of the content on here is just a glorification of the engineers, and not really helpful to learn. Still can grab stuff from each video, but increasingly less worth any form of subscription.
Diego Lopez July 14, 2025 at 11:21 PM

I feel the same

glen pilkey July 15, 2025 at 11:45 PM

i totally agree with you.

Patrick O' Connell July 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM

Yes must agree, the younger guys seem to be more into themselves and how much they contribute, like it's some sort of black magic that only they can conjure up and us oldies know that's just not the case.

Piotr Dygasiewicz July 16, 2025 at 7:31 PM

I agree as well. The whole idea of incorporating the recent MwTM philosophy has become rather… philosophical.

Paul Viapiano July 18, 2025 at 10:57 PM

I have to agree...would much rather watch Finneas going through the track instead of this fluff.

Brian Bolger July 23, 2025 at 1:48 PM

I agree. I don't bother watching videos from the 'Production' series because they are lacking in technical substance. Lot's of 'hot air'. This video feels like it should be over in that drawer. It might be an idea for MWTM to provide a basic guide to their 'masters', A checklist of what to include for their mixing series specifically. A clear view of overall routing and session structure (this is often ignored), plugin chains for every element, Masterbus, What was the vocal recording chain. . Actual solid technical information in service of viewers learning something. 'Just the facts Jack' The comments here are predominantly negative.

E W August 1, 2025 at 8:26 AM

I listened to a whole bunch of the Live with Matt Rad podcast series, which Jon is on for most of the episodes. I learned a whole lot of technical stuff from him and I'd highly recommend it! Watching these mix with the masters videos is awesome to see how his philosophy has changed since then. Been waiting for him to get invited for a while. Anyway, just a big fan of these guys so wanted to stick up for them a bit!
Elvin A July 13, 2025 at 12:26 AM

Thank you
Michael Slupinski July 9, 2025 at 6:18 PM

Fantastic. What a great arrangement!
Miro Heim July 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM

The sibilants of Aron Forbes voice are very annoying to hear
Ben King July 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM

Two fantastic human beings however, I think the MWTM community *is* into the 'tips and tricks' and therefore it would be great if there was more focus on why, for example, certain plugins are used over others etc.
Ben King July 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM

Stuart White, for example, is excellent at explaining why certain tools are used and how he uses them etc.
ELLIOTT BASTIDE July 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM

This serie is a fucking joke, this not a content that worth the money we give to the site to be honest.
Konstantia Balla July 4, 2025 at 9:06 AM

We want a production breakdown of the greatest t!

About Jon Castelli

Jon Castelli is a 15x GRAMMY-nominated mix engineer based in Downtown Los Angeles. After starting out engineering for small bands in NYC, he relocated to Los Angeles and began working under mentor Tony Maserati. Jon has since become one of the industry’s top mixers, collaborating with artists including SZA, Billie Eilish, Khalid, Halsey, Harry Styles, The Kid LAROI, Nicki Minaj, 6LACK, Summer Walker, Ariana Grande, Leon Bridges, RAYE, Omar Apollo, Camila Cabello, Tate McRae, FINNEAS, Lil Nas X,...

About Aron Forbes

Aron Forbes is an Emmy & Grammy nominated multi-platinum songwriter, producer, mixer and music director known for working with Billie Eilish, Finneas, Conan Gray, Banks, Halsey and many more. A serious guitar player from an early age, he grew up performing and studying jazz and later graduated from the USC Thornton School of Music. Aron began music directing in 2009 and has since worked with artists on their SNL, Grammy, Late Night, Oscars and arena tour performances. He recently co-mixed Billie...

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11 min

Part 1

Song overview, lead vocal, mix comparison, balance

bx_console SSL 4000G, UAD LA-2A Gray, UAD 1176 LN, UAD 1176 Rev A
12 min

Part 2

Artist perspective, revisions, guitars, dynamics, drums

bx_console SSL 4000G, Fabfilter Pro-L2, iZotope Ozone 11
10 min

Part 3

Drums, arrangement, layers, bass, guitars, synths, strings,

Wavesfactory Spectre, Fabfilter Saturn2
13 min

Part 4

Vocals, balance, adlibs, co-mixing
08 min

Part 5

Vocals, processing
iZotope Ozone 11 Vintage Tape
08 min

Part 6

Engineering, studio philosophies
Telefunken ELA M 251, Neve 1073, Tube-Tech CL 1B
11 min

Part 7

DAW selection, mindset, confidence
02 min

Trailer